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IRDR IWD Gender and Disasters Event

24 April 2013

On 8th March 2013, International Women’s Day, the
UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction hosted a panel discussion on
“Gender and Disasters”, in which we explored how the genders are differently
impacted by natural disasters, why this difference exists, and what is being
done about it. A panel of experts and an experienced chair-person all with very
wide ranging experiences and backgrounds made this a very lively and
informative discussion, with keen participation from the audience. The panel of
experts included Paula Albrito, Head of the European Office of the UNISDR,
David Alexander, UCL Professor of Risk and Disaster Reduction, and Linda
O’Halloran, Director of NGO Thinking Development. It was Chaired by Ellie Lee,
Reader in Social Policy. Further details of the Chair and panelists and a video of the full panel discussion can be found below.

Reader of Social Policy at the
University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
(SSPSSR).
Dr Lee has written numerous articles on health-related issues, including
abortion, reproductive technologies, infant feeding, post-natal depression and
men’s health.

She is the
author of Abortion, Motherhood, and Mental
Health: Medicalizing Reproduction in the US and Britain (Aldine
Transaction 2003) and her articles have appeared in journals including
Sociology of Health and Illness, Health, Risk and Society and Reproductive
Health Matters.
She is the Director of the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, based in SSPSSR. She is also the
Co-ordinator of the Pro-Choice Forum, Director of the Institute of Ideas

Paola Albritois the Head of the United Nations Office for
Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Regional Office for Europe and has covered
disaster risk reduction activities in the European region since 2007. She
joined UNISDR in 2004 during the preparations for the World Conference on
Disaster Reduction in 2004 analyzing the national progress reports received
from national authorities in feeding the Conference with the Outcome Analysis
Document on the status on DRR implementation at the global level. She assisted
the inter-governmental Drafting Committee and Main Committee of the Conference
in charge of developing the Hyogo Declaration and the Hyogo Framework for
Action 2005–2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to
Disasters adopted by the United Nations General Assembly with
resolution 60/195 endorsed by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held
in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, in January 2005.

In March 2005 she worked on Policy
Issues related topics particularly related to the follow-up to the Hyogo Framework
for Action, including development of guidelines related to indicators towards
assessing disaster risk reduction issues and how to mainstream disaster risk
reduction in sustainable development policy and programme.

Paola holds a Masters in International
Relations and Political Science, University of Turin, with research conducted
at the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), London. She worked,
at the beginning of her career, at the United Nations Staff System College
(UNSSC) in Turin, Italy, where she supported UN country teams in developing
sustainable development policies. In 2000 she joined the UN Resident
Coordinator Office in Djibouti as Coordinator/Programme Analyst coordinating
the development of the Common Country Assessment and United Nations Development
Assistance Framework (programmes addressing sustainable development issues­­­).
She also worked as an independent consultant with programme evaluations within
the International Labor Organization.

David Alexander is a Professor of Risk and Disaster Reduction at the UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. He joined the IRDR in October 2013. David Alexander teaches emergency planning and management and has research interests in this field, as well as earthquake disaster analysis. His books include "Natural Disasters", "Confronting Catastrophe" and "Principles of Emergency Planning and Management". He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Co-Editor of Disasters journal, and is a Founding Fellow of the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. He has conducted several studies into the gender imbalance in the effects of earthquakes.

Linda O'Halloran is the founder and managing director
of Thinking Development. She coordinates the diverse teams of professionals and
academics who are working with Haiti's largest educator of women to deliver
disaster-resilient, environmentally and socially sustainable facilities to a
disaster-affected girls' school community in Port-au-Prince. Linda holds an
MPhil in philosophy from UCL, sits on the executive board of the UCL Institute
for Risk and Disaster Reduction, and works part time in UK Government
communications.